Anyone have the Nitrous Comp Cam?

I'll probably be getting a cam here later in the fall.When I had my car tuned he pulled 3 degrees of timing for the N20 so it was strongest on the juice. So heres my question..should I get the N20 cam since my car is set up for Nitrous Oxide and does the N20 cam lope much. Or should I just look into the Lloyd Elliot packages lol? help please

I have a 224/236 xe cam with about the same bolts on you have and with a 150 shot it put down 489 to the wheels through an auto with a 2800 stall.

Nice numbers....Anyone else have any suggestions??

Your question, in my opinion; has more to do with basic theory than specific application. That's good, because theory is my strong point.


Nitrous cams and supercharger cams are similar and they are similar because the needs of the two kinds of motors are similar. At the risk of oversimplifying, these motors BOTH need help on the exhaust side.
(I'm pretending that there is no difference between supercharger types, which is not true but I don't want to complicate this.)

However, there is one huge difference between the two situations; the nitrous motor spends a significant period of it's duty cycle as a naturally aspirated motor. The supercharger motor is ALWAYS supercharged.
(Again, I'm pretending there is no difference between charger types.)

Basically, that means that you have two engine operating modes:

a) Naturally Aspirated
b) Chemically Supercharged.

It can be argued that the proper way to decide whether or not to run a nitrous cam is to determine WHICH of those two modes is more important to you.

If your primary goal is to create a motor optimized for the dragstrip, then I think you probably want to run a nitrous cam. That will allow you to get the most from your nitrous setup.

If your primary goal is to create a motor optimized for street use, then I think you probably want to stick with an "N/A" cam; because that's what your motor really is.


There's one last thing to consider...

How much nitrous are you planning to use?

I don't know the math, but I DO know that the importance of running a nitrous cam diminishes when you run smaller shots.

The reason for this is simple and it has to do with the concept of "diminishing returns".

As a basic rule of thumb, you can only add enough nitrous to increase your power by about 50%. That's not a hard limit and there are plenty of people breaking the limit, but the simple fact is that a given set of heads will only flow "X" amount of air and that means they will only flow "Y" amount of nitrous.

If you have an 800hp naturally aspirated engine and you want to add another 400hp with nitrous, you are coming up against that "limit" and to reach it or exceed it you're going to need to find every last advantage. A purpose built nitrous cam is one of those things.

However, if you have that same 800hp motor and you only want to add another 200hp with nitrous, you can easily do so with an ordinary "N/A" cam; because you're nowhere near the "limits" of flow.


BTW, I quotate stuff like "limit" because I'm not really using the word properly.




Anyway, your answer is going to be found in the answers to these two questions:

a) Why am I building this engine? For a hot-rod or a dragstrip bomber?

b) How much nitrous do I want to add, expressed as a percentage of naturally aspirated horsepower?


Once you answer those two questions for yourself, I think you will answer the big question.

I hope I have helped you, and not bored you overmuch.

Thanks for the reply.I saw another guy posted pretty much the same question awhlie ago. Im just trying to make up my mind from here.Thanks again

Whichever you decide, I have a custom ground comp cam that is used, but is very very friendly on the gas. Will make good power n/a also. Ground on a 114 lsa . Shoot me a pm if you may be interested in it..

Your question, in my opinion; has more to do with basic theory than specific application. That's good, because theory is my strong point.


Nitrous cams and supercharger cams are similar and they are similar because the needs of the two kinds of motors are similar. At the risk of oversimplifying, these motors BOTH need help on the exhaust side.
(I'm pretending that there is no difference between supercharger types, which is not true but I don't want to complicate this.)

However, there is one huge difference between the two situations; the nitrous motor spends a significant period of it's duty cycle as a naturally aspirated motor. The supercharger motor is ALWAYS supercharged.
(Again, I'm pretending there is no difference between charger types.)

Basically, that means that you have two engine operating modes:

a) Naturally Aspirated
b) Chemically Supercharged.

It can be argued that the proper way to decide whether or not to run a nitrous cam is to determine WHICH of those two modes is more important to you.

If your primary goal is to create a motor optimized for the dragstrip, then I think you probably want to run a nitrous cam. That will allow you to get the most from your nitrous setup.

If your primary goal is to create a motor optimized for street use, then I think you probably want to stick with an "N/A" cam; because that's what your motor really is.


There's one last thing to consider...

How much nitrous are you planning to use?

I don't know the math, but I DO know that the importance of running a nitrous cam diminishes when you run smaller shots.

The reason for this is simple and it has to do with the concept of "diminishing returns".

As a basic rule of thumb, you can only add enough nitrous to increase your power by about 50%. That's not a hard limit and there are plenty of people breaking the limit, but the simple fact is that a given set of heads will only flow "X" amount of air and that means they will only flow "Y" amount of nitrous.

If you have an 800hp naturally aspirated engine and you want to add another 400hp with nitrous, you are coming up against that "limit" and to reach it or exceed it you're going to need to find every last advantage. A purpose built nitrous cam is one of those things.

However, if you have that same 800hp motor and you only want to add another 200hp with nitrous, you can easily do so with an ordinary "N/A" cam; because you're nowhere near the "limits" of flow.


BTW, I quotate stuff like "limit" because I'm not really using the word properly.




Anyway, your answer is going to be found in the answers to these two questions:

a) Why am I building this engine? For a hot-rod or a dragstrip bomber?

b) How much nitrous do I want to add, expressed as a percentage of naturally aspirated horsepower?


Once you answer those two questions for yourself, I think you will answer the big question.

I hope I have helped you, and not bored you overmuch.

I really wanted to be constructive in this thread.. Maybe im hungry and cant think right, but your post sir has :think: me to tears!

Ill try to edit after i read this to more times :p